California Soul

Coyote Valley RV Resort
Morgan Hill, CA

There's a commercial running here in the SF bay area..

it's for a car or such..

but in the background is a cover song of 

the Fifth Dimension's song 'California Soul'.

It brings back memories of living here in my teens,

and now I can't get the song out of my head :-)

Been a normal week here at the resort,

with the exception of an oops moment.

Tuesday was very stormy..high winds and lots of rain.

We stayed in and cleaned, did laundry, and made homemade meatballs.

There was a beautiful double rainbow..

Wednesday and Thursday were two of our longer work days, 8-4.

Nothing out of the ordinary, really.

George and I cover the hours together, or spell each other for a few hours

to eat lunch, or just to take a break.

I've been working on spreadsheets for 3 Springs, and that has been taking

up a lot of my time lately.

Friday my Mom & Dad brought a good friend of mine up with them,

so we could go out to lunch. George volunteered to work the shift

so that I could have some fun :-) 

All of us were escorted over to the golf course for their fabulous lunch.

It was great!

In the meantime, George had an 'oops' moment..

He was walking to his cart and tripped and fell face forward.

Thank God he put his hands out to catch his fall, 

but in the process jammed his right thumb a bit.

He ended up being looked at by the local urgent care,

and got a quick X-ray.

Nothing is broken, or sprained,

but since he has arthritis in his joints, including that one,

it knocked some arthritis spurs around a bit.

He's sore and a bit swollen there now, but feels good this morning.

I told him to relax and rest today!

Oh, and by the way..

I had to eliminate commenting on the blog via 'anonymous' posting.

Seems the spammers are out in full force lately.

Feel free to use our e-mail anytime :-)

Reminiscing

Coyote Valley RV Resort
Morgan Hill, CA

Being in California again for a period of time has been great.

I have gotten to take George to where I was born and lived for 17 years.

He has gotten to worship with me in the church where I spent a lot of my adult years.

Yesterday we headed up north to the bay area, where I lived and worked.

We decided to stop by an accounting firm where I worked from 1982-1985.

I had to use the GPS on my phone to find the place, and even then it only looked 'familiar'.

My old boss has gotten, well, old. Gray hair, thinner, have I aged as much?

He remembered me after I started reminiscing about others that worked there when I did.

We talked about clients I had worked on, and a few other things.

He was quite interested in our full-time RV life.

The reason we went north (about an hour) was to see my old house,

which we did..

but to visit some good friends of mine from my former life :-)

Chris & Lee have stayed in touch through Christmas letters,

and for at least a few years, Facebook.

When she saw we were going to be in the area, she invited us up!

I had no trouble finding their house, it wasn't too far from where I used to live.

Chris put on a nice spread of munchies, we contributed a bottle of wine..

They love George, and Lee asked lots of questions about our life.

Chris got busy working on dinner..

and we sat and reminisced about what we had done,

and our kids, and etc.

We had a terrific time!

We've invited them both down to visit us here in Morgan Hill.

Can't wait to see them again!

Monterey county wines - top 10 in the world!

Coyote Valley RV Resort
Morgan Hill, CA

Yesterday was another fun-filled day.

George and I drove down and went to church with Mom & Dad.

We enjoy worshiping with them, and love the church where I

was a member from age 17 to when my kids were young.

The plan was to go wine tasting and out to lunch.

We started out at a great little place called Portobello's.

They had some terrific sandwiches and salads.

From there we went to a few of the great

Monterey county wineries.

Wine Enthusiast magazine just voted the Monterey County wines

in the top 10 places in the world.

Pretty impressive!

My Father was controller for a wine grape broker for 37 years,

so he is a great one to be with on a wine tasting adventure.

We both enjoy being with both of them while tasting,

he knows most all of the people at the tasting rooms,

and has so much knowledge of wines.

We started out at Talbott. They have excellent wines,

but very pricey..so no purchases there :-)

They are the same family that make the expensive ties.

Next was Pessagno..

Their wines aren't as good as the others, but we managed to buy a couple bottles.

Our favorite winery and wine is at Hahn vineyards.

The owners are from Switzerland, and their last name is Hahn,

which means 'rooster' in German. 

Mom & Dad ran into someone they know having a good time.

The views from the outside deck are fabulous.

We only did 4 wineries,

the last being Paraiso.

The vines are getting ready to bud.

We had a terrific time..

 The best times are spent with Mom & Dad!

Wine tasting & some fun!

Coyote Valley RV Resort
Morgan Hill, CA

One of the cool activities this park has is wine tastings!

We've gone to a couple of them,

it is always by the same winery..Fortino..

which is a local winery in Morgan Hill.

Last night the resort tied in Valentine's Day as well.

We had a great time..the wine wasn't bad,

and there were strawberries dipped in chocolate,

and red velvet cupcakes as well :-)

While we were there, we chatted with another couple

who are staying here for 4 months while they are 

visiting their daughter and grandkids.

They decided we should get together for lunch today.

Another perk of the resort is to be driven over to the

Coyote Creek Golf Club in our 'golf limo'.

Now, we don't play golf (yet!), but they have a great place to eat.

So, at 12:30, the 4 of us got a ride in the limo over to the golf course.

We had a fun time getting to know one another.

Greg & Connie have a travel trailer, and live in Ohio.

We have a lot in common..and they are thinking of full-timing some day.

The lunch was terrific..and the bloody marys were great too :-)

The golf course is really nice..

Maybe we will get over there more often!

Another week gone by

Coyote Valley RV Resort
Morgan Hill, CA

Been another busy week here at Coyote.

The weather has been glorious,

sunny and high 60's to low 70's..

just perfect!

I have been getting in bike rides almost every day.

There is not a lot to photograph while riding,

but Wednesday on the ride,

it would have been nice to have the camera.

I looked up into the trees and saw big nests,

and what looked to be Herons nesting.

I'll have to take my big camera and telephoto to see

if I can get a decent picture of them.

From our site yesterday I caught this guy..

It looks like a hawk...he (she?) is beautiful.

We see them soaring over the hills around here, 

looking for a morsel to eat :-)

Yesterday was Valentine's Day.

Poor George woke up to a dizzy head,

umm, and the other stuff that goes with that too :-(

I told him to stay in bed, and I went out

to do our shift...including filling some propane :-)

Later in the afternoon he felt better,

and joined me in the warm sunshine to finish things up.

We decided he felt good enough to order pizza,

so we enjoyed that as our Valentines  meal :-)

Today is going to be a busy day..

there are over 10 RVs coming in for a group stay.

Lots of people to escort!

Tonight is a special wine tasting,

with strawberries and chocolate.

It should be a great post-valentine's day event!

Birds of a different kind

Coyote Valley RV Resort
Morgan Hill, CA

George and I have had the last few days off.

The temps have been lovely, nice and sunny.

Saturday I did laundry, while George did some tinkering outside.

Since the sun was warm, we took a walk around the park.

We noticed Sylvia & Dennis with the pressure washer

cleaning off one of the sites.

Looks to me like Sylvia was doing the washing,

and Dennis was supervising :-)

I took it easy in a lounge chair by the pool...

Sunday we drove down and went to church with my Mom & Dad,

then had a nice lunch at their house while we watched the end

of the AT&T golf match.

Today, our last day off, we decided to get some exercise.

We hopped on our bikes, and rode the bike trail a bit.

This time we rode a round trip of 6 miles.

3 miles into the trip, we came upon a airfield of sorts..

Model airplanes!

We sat and watched them fly for awhile.

They were making them do loop-de-loops,

barrel rolls, and smooth take offs & landings.

Pretty cool!

Bet it is an expensive hobby :-)

SKP #112678

Coyote Valley RV Resort
Morgan Hill, CA

Been a week of working here at the resort.

Nothing too exciting to report except for one thing..

Randy Moss (well his driver..) came and picked up his Prevost.

The driver called ahead and asked if someone could

fill up the rig with diesel, and clean and polish the wheels & tires.

You know who volunteered for that job :-)

So yesterday, when the driver showed up to head out..

George was front and center to see if he could get a peek inside.

The driver let him in, but only as far as the carpet,

white carpet..geez.

He did give George a $20 tip..bonus :-)

We joined Escapees as well. 

I've been looking into where to stay in Yosemite in May,

and there is a great Escapee park in Coarsegold.

We are going to try and get a spot there after we leave here

the end of April.

We plan on staying in the Yosemite area for a week,

then head north to Sacramento for a few days,

then possibly stay in Mt Shasta area for a week or so.

We have to be at our job in Oregon by June 1st,

so we'll find some other places to stay on the way north.

We've gotten to be good friends with the other workamper couple,

and are thinking about finding a job in Florida with them

for next winter after the Carolina Clan.

Lots of planning to do!

Super Bowl fun

Coyote Valley RV Resort
Morgan Hill, CA

Are you ready for some football!?

Yesterday we decided it would be fun to be

a part of the Super Bowl Party

that was held here at the clubhouse.

The resort provided grilled burgers and dogs,

and everyone else brought something to share.

I provided brownies..

and since I have connections in the bottled water industry..

but there was so much great food there..

and fun with fellow workampers and guests..

Too bad the game didn't turn out exactly as all of us hoped

 :-(

There's always next year!

Elkhorn Slough

Coyote Valley RV Resort
Morgan Hill, CA

Yesterday we took a drive to an area known as the Elkhorn Slough.

The slough harbors the largest tract of  tidal salt marsh in California.

This whole area is in the center of Monterey Bay, and isn't very far

from where I used to live.

We visited the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve.

There are miles of trails that wind among majestic oak trees,

along the salt and fresh water marshes.

 They have a nice interpretive center which we walked around..

Then it was time for a guided tour..

we had to brush our shoes off, and step in a decontaminant..

to keep from tracking into the slough area some sort of oak root fungus.

This area that is now part of the slough was once a dairy farm.

It now is home to lots of different shore birds and native trees..

Marbled Godwit

Great Egret

Bufflehead

Hummingbird

California Live Oak

We really enjoyed our hike in the slough.

We stopped at our favorite place to eat a late lunch..

Phil's Fish Market
The line was long..

but the food is so good, it was worth the wait!